Homemade Hot Pockets

Ahhh, Hot Pockets.

Those plasticky, bumpy pepperoni and hot cheese lava filled food products were once a thing of glory for me.

When I would sleep over at friends’ houses, I would marvel at their freezers full of glorious frozen goodness.

And I was always a little surprised with they casually dismissed my exaltations at their many, many options of instant food bliss.

You mean you can have a waffle in, like, 2 minutes?

My mom didn’t (and still doesn’t) believe in microwaves.

If you wanted anything to eat, it took at least 30 minutes or more.

I was so often directed toward the fruit bowl between meals.

(Like I wanted a piece of fruit.)

Please.

I wanted Hot Pockets, Totino’s Pizza Rolls, Little Debbies, Cheetos, and just about every other thing I wasn’t allowed to have.

This bratty girl ate her fresh-from-the-garden vegetables (!) with an enormous eye roll or two.

Fast-forward to present day and in the cruelest of ironies, I wouldn’t go near the frozen dinner sections of a grocery store if you paid me.

Blech.

But, after spotting a recipe for croque monsieur pockets, I thought maybe, just maybe, I could appease some of that youthful longing, albeit 20 years later.

These ham-and-cheese pockets tasted absolutely nothing like the frozen variety.

But I’m going to go ahead and say that’s a good thing.

Croque Monsieur Pockets

Ingredients

• 1 cup grated gruyere cheese (you can also use sharp cheddar)
• 1 cup deli-sliced ham, chopped
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Vegetable oil, for brushing
• All-purpose flour, for dusting
• 1 11-ounce tube refrigerated French bread dough
• 1 large egg

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Mix the gruyere (or cheddar cheese), ham, mustard, nutmeg and cayenne in a bowl until combined. Squeeze the mixture together with your hands to make it compact.

Brush a baking sheet lightly with vegetable oil. On a floured surface, roll out the dough and fill the dinner pockets. Step-by-step directions.

Place the pockets seam-side down on the prepared baking sheet. Beat the egg and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl; brush the pockets with the egg wash. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

[Source: Food Network magazine]